Apparatus for collecting cigarettes in trays



APPARATUS FOR COLLECTING CIGARETTES IN TRAYS July 27, 1965 H. FOCKE ETAL 8 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec.

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APPARATUS FOR COLLECTING CIGARETTES IN TRAYS Filed Dec. 1, 1961 8 Sheets-Sheet 3 Fig.4.

3,196,594 APPARATUS FOR COLLECTING CIGARETTES IN TRAYS Filed Dec. 1, 1961 July 27, 1965 H FOCKE ETAL 8 Sheets-Sheet 4 41 51/7025 1? 7f M11524, a4, iizwlx lzfa 3,196,594 Armmus FOR COLLECTING cmnmms m mus Filed Dec. 1 1961 July 27, 1965 H. FOCKE ETAL 8 Sheets-Sheet 5 Wyn/72x5 H. FOCKE ETAL 3,196,594

APPARATUS FOR COLLECTING CIGARETTES IN TRAYS July 21, 1965 8 Sheets-Sheet 6 Filed Dec. 1. 1961 fl/AWE/VTOKS 5 W Y wk, @6 4M, 0% ATTOZ/VEVj 27, 1955 H. FOCKE ETAL 3,196,594

APPARATUS FOR COLLECTING CIGARETTES IN TRAYS Filed Dec. 1, 1961 8 Sheets-Sheet '7 July 27,1965 H. FOCKE ETAL 3,196,594

APPARATUS FOR COLLECTING CIGARETTES IN TRAYS Filed Dec. 1. 1961 8 Sheets-Sheet 8 M/VE/VTOkS Arroi/vm United States Patent 3,196,594 APPARATUS FOR COLLECTING CIGARETTES IN TRAYS Heinz Focke and Friedrich Pfuhl, Bremen-Hemelingen, Germany, assignors to Focke 8: Pink], a German company Filed Dec. 1, 1961, Ser. No. 156,395 Claims priority, application Great Britain, Dec. 9, 1960, 42,524/60 4 Claims. (Cl. 53-236) This invention concerns improvements in or relating to apparatus for automatically collecting cigarettes in receptacles (e.g. cigarettes coming from a cigarette-making machine).

According to the present invention there is provided cigarette-collecting apparatus wherein cigarettes are fed downwardly into a hopper in which are located upright vanes so spaced apart as to accommodate between them single columns of cigarettes, the apparatus comprising pusher means arranged periodically to push cigarettes lengthwise out of the hopper into a receptacle, the said pusher means being arranged at each pushing stroke to remove a predetermined number of cigarettes from each column (e.g. the lowermost cigarette from each column).

The said pusher means may comprise pusher elements arranged on a pushing stroke to project upwardly through slots in a surface which supports the cigarettes, so as to engage end faces of cigarettes, and to move forwardly to push the said cigarette out of the hopper, and thereafter to be lowered beneath the level of said surface for the return stroke.

The apparatus may comprise two such hoppers ofiset from each other lengthwise and sideways, the said pusher means being operative to remove cigarettes from both hoppers simultaneously, and two conveyors arranged to feed two side-by-side rows of sideways-moving cigarettes into the two hoppers.

The apparatus may further comprise two opposed elements operative to engage the outermost cigarettes of each quantity of cigarettes removed from between the vanes, before said cigarettes are pushed into the receptacle, and to move towards each other to close the gaps between the said cigarettes.

By guiding cigarettes downwardly through a hopper in single columns by means of the vanes, it is possible to remove at each pushing stroke a predetermined number of cigarettes with the result that an exact count can be kept of the number of cigarettes in each receptacle.

Further according to the invention there is provided cigarette-collecting apparatus comprising two hoppers offset from each other lengthwise and sideways, two conveyors, one for each hopper, arranged to convey two sideby-side rows of sideways moving cigarettes for delivery to said hoppers from above, and pusher means operative periodically to engage cigarettes in the lower parts of both said hoppers and to push the said cigarettes out of their respective hoppers.

The said pusher means may comprise pusher elements arranged on a pushing stroke to project upwardly through slots in a surface which supports the cigarettes in the hoppers, so as to be capable of engaging and pushing cigarettes lengthwise from the hoppers, and to be lowered beneath the level of the said surface for a return stroke, there being provided at least two sets of such pusher elements associated with that hopper which is located rearwardly of the other (considered in the direction in which the cigarettes are pushed), the said sets being spaced apart, considered in the said direction, to such an extent in relation to the length of a pushing stroke, that a quantity of cigarettes is pushed from the said rearwardhopper by one set of pusher elements and is subsequently engaged and pushed by another set of elements which latter are in line with the pusher elements which push cigarettes out of the other hopper.

In any arrangement referred to above, there may be provided conveyor-means to support open-sided recep tacles and to lower them stepwise in timed relationship with the operation of the pusher-means.

Further according to the invention there is provided cigarette-collecting apparatus, in which batches of cigarettes are successively pushed from a delivery station into an open-sided receptacle, the said apparatus comprising a support for empty receptacles, a support for filled receptacles, a first conveyor means to receive empty receptacles in succession from their support and to lower them (e.g. stepwise) in succession past said delivery station to be filled with cigarettes, a second conveyor means to receive filled receptacles in succession and to raise said filled receptacles and deliver them in succession on to the support for filled receptacles, and transfer means to transfer filled receptacles in succession from the first to the second conveyor means.

Apparatus for automatically collecting cigarettes into receptacles will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which:

FIGURE 1 is a diagrammatic view of a section through the apparatus,

FIGURE 2 is a diagrammatic view on the line II--II in FIGURE 1,

FIGURE 3 is a partial plan of the apparatus,

FIGURE 4 is a section on the line IVIV in FIG- URE 3,

FIGURE 5 is a section on the line V-V in FIGURE 3,

FIGURE 6 is a section on the line VI-VI in FIG- URE 3,

FIGURES 7 and 8 are views to an enlarged scale of guide mechanism for a cigarette plunger,

FIGURE 9 is a view to an enlarged scale of part of accelerating mechanism for moving full trays,

FIGURE 10 is a section on the line XX in FIG- URE 3,

FIGURE 11 is a section, to an enlarged scale, of one side of side pushers for closing up the space between the cigarettes in a row,

FIGURE 12 is a view to an enlarged scale of mechanism for maintaining a tray in line with the row of cigarettes being fed to it.

Referring to FIGURE 1 and FIGURE 2 the general arrangement of the apparatus will be first briefly described. Catcher bands 1 and 2 deliver cigarettes from a cigarettemaking machine of known type into a left hand hopper 4 and right hand hopper 5 respectively, as viewed in the direction of the arrow A, FIGURE 1. These two hoppers are offset so that each is aligned to the catcher band feeding it, i.e. the left-hand hopper is to the rear of the right-hand hopper, considered in the direction of the movement of cigarettes from the hoppers (in the direction of the arrow A, FIGURE 1) as will shortly be described.

The cigarettes fill the hoppers 4 and 5 being agitated as they descend through the hoppers, and finally pass out from the bottom of the hoppers through a series of vanes 35 and 36. At the bottom of the vanes there are situated grill bars so arranged that each cigarette comes to rest at the bottom of the pair of vanes between which it has passed, on the grill bars. The row of cigarettes resting on the grill bars is then moved forward in the direction of their longitudinal axes by means of pusher bars 42, 43 and 44, to which are attached pusher pins 45. These pins are arranged to push the cigarettes forward towards a tray T1 and to retract after each pushing movement. Thus the cigarettes passing from the left-hand hopper 4 through the vanes 35 are first pushed by the pusher bar 42 one stage,

that is until they come to rest in a position alongside the cigarettes which have been fed into the right-hand hopper 5 and have passed through the vanes 36. The pusher bar 43 then on the next pushing stroke moves a complete row of cigarettes, i.e. the bottom row of cigarettes from both hoppers (which now comprises the bottom cigarette of each column held between adjacent vanes) to the second stage which is positioned to the front of the pusher bar 44. The third stage movement is by means of the pusher bar 44, which moves the complete row of cigarettes to a position between a final plunger 78 and a tray T1. The last stage is the movement of the plunger 78 which moves the complete row of cigarettes from their penultimate position to their final position in the tray T1. As the cigarettes have been resting on grill bars, which result in each cigarette being separated from those adjacent to it, the complete row of cigarettes has an overall width greater than that of the tray into which it is to be pushed by the plunger 78. To reduce this width to the required dimension, the cigarettes are abutted by means of side pushers, which are not shown in FIGURE 1, before their final pushing movement under the action of the plunger 78. Prior to the operation of the side pushers the row of cigarettes is transferred from the grill bars on to a flat plate, to be described later.

The tray T1 is carried on lugs 115 fixed on a chain conveyor 117 (constituting a first conveyor means) which is driven intermittently in a downward direction as indi cated by the arrow in FIGURE 1 in such a way that each T separate movement is exactly the same distance as the diameter of the cigarette being fed into the tray. Thus the tray T1 descends whilst the cigarettes are pushed into it row by row. When the last row is pushed into the tray T1 an accelerated movement of the driving gear takes place as will be described later, and brings the following tray into a position such that the plunger 78 pushes a row 'of cigarettes into the bottom of the new tray. The tray T1 continues to move in a downward direction until the lugs 115 move below the top run of a cross chain conveyor 131 which as can be seen in FIGURE 2 moves a tray from the position shown as T2 in a direction to the left as indicated by the arrow.

When the tray reaches the position indicated by T3, further lugs 132, which are part of a chain conveyor 133 (constituting a second conveyor means) engage with the bottom of the tray and lift it in an upward direction as indicated by the arrow in FIGURE 2. When the tray At the bottom of each hopper are located the vanes 35 and 36. These are spaced apart by an amount just greater than the diameter of the cigarettes being fed from the hopper and are made of spring steel so that they can be readily flexed. The vanes 35 for the left-hand hopper are fixed between a vane bar 27 and a centre vane bar 28 (FIGURE 4) the bars being separated by distance pieces 31 and 34 (FIGURE 5). In the case of the right-hand hopper, the vanes are held between the centre vane bar 28 and a further vane bar 38 (FIGURE 4). Distance pieces 33 and 32 hold the vane bars in their correct positions. The distance piece 31 (FIGURE 5) is part of a bracket and is attached to a top arm 123. This bracket pivots at 124 and has a bottom arm 125 to which is ata front bar 37 and a back bar 38 (FIGURE 3).

reaches the position above that shown as T4, a mechanism,

to be described later, lifts the tray on to a discharge platform, the lifting mechanism and discharge platform not being shown in FIGURE 2.

The general arrangement and operation of the apparatus having been briefly described, the structure will now be detailed with reference to FIGURES 3, 4, 5 and 6. The catch band 1 (FIGURE 5) delivers cigarettes by way of a guide plate 3 into the left-hand hopper 4, whilst the second catcher band 2, delivers further cigarettes into the right-hand hopper 5. The left-hand hopper comprises side plates 6 and 7, a rear plate 8 and front plate 9 (FIG- URE 4). The right-hand hopper is similarly constructed. It should be understood that all structures described for the left-hand hopper apply equally well to the right-hand hopper. Within the left-hand hopper are agitators 1t) and tached a cam follower 126, which is retained against the face of a cam 127 keyed to a shaft 128 by the action of the vanes and 36. The bottom of the vanes project into grooves cut in grill bars 39 which are held between The spacing of these bars is the same as that of the vanes but since the bare have a considerable width compared with the width of the vanes, cigarettes are retained on top of the bars after they have moved down the vanes. Below the grill bars 39 and on each side of them are located two angle runners 40 and 41, attached to which are the cross pusher bars 42, 43 and 44 (FIGURE 3). Fixed upright to each of these cross pusher bars are the pusher pins 45 spaced at intervals equal to the spacing of the vanes and of the grill bars and arranged to move between the grill bars. Fixed to the side of each angle runner 40 and 41 are runner wheels 46 which can roll along the underside of angle guides 47 and 48. The inner top faces of the angle guides 47 and 48 are chamfered to form a rolling 7 surface for further runner wheels 49 attached to the cham- 134 against the faces of cams 54 and 55 which are keyed to shafts 56 and 57 respectively. As the shafts 56 and 57 rotate the earns 54 and 55 lift the blocks and 51 thus causing the pusher pins 45 to project above the level of the 'grill bars. Two connecting rods, one of which is shown generally as58 in FIGURE 6, are attached to the angle runners 40 and 41, with the other end attached to an arm 61 which pivots on a rocking shaft 60. Also keyed to this rocking shaft 60 are arms 62 and 63 which are provided with cam followers 64 and 65 respectively. These cam 11 which oscillate about pivots 25 and 26 respectively.

Below the agitators are fixed pins 12, 13, 14 and 15 which are provided to prevent overcrowding of the cigarettes before they enter the vanes 35. In FIGURE 5 a cam roller 16 attached to an arm 17 is held by means of a retaining spring 18 against the face of a cam 19 keyed to a shaft 57. The arm 17 pivots at 20 and thereby rocks a link arm 21 which transmits the movement by means of a rocker link 22 to a rocker 23 pivoted at 24. The movement from the pivot 24 to the pivots 25 and 26 is transmitted by means of the link mechanism shown in FIGURE 5.

followers are operated by cams 66 and 67 which are keyed to the shaft 68. Thus due to the rotation of the shafts 56, 57 and 68, the angle runners, and hence the pusher pins 45, move to the left as viewed in FIGURE 6 and then downwards, in which position they remain for the return stroke at the end of which they return upwards to their original position.

Also attached tothe angle runners 40 and 41 are posts 69 and 70 (FIGURES 4 and 6). Brackets 73 and 74 are pinned at '71 and 72 to the tops of the posts. The brackets are joined by means of a cross member 75 and have attached to them respectively two plunger carriers 76 and 77 (see also FIGURE 3). Attached to the plunger carriers is the plunger 78 which performs the final operation of pushing the cigarettes into the tray T1. When the plunger 78 is in its rest position, the row of cigarettes projects beyond the end of the grill bars 39 and the back grill plate 38, a continuation bottom plate 81 enabling the movement of the cigarettes to be continued in the same plane whilst a top plate carried by the plunger 78 is also provided to prevent any tendency for the cigarettes to lift from this same plane. Runner wheels 82 and 83 are fixed to the brackets 74 and 73 respectively. With the brackets pivoting at 71 and 72, on the return stroke of the angle runners 40 and 41, the plunger 78 lifts since the brackets and plunger carriers pivot around the runner wheels. This enables the plunger to clear the oncoming row of cigarettes which it will be pushing forward on its next pushing stroke.

The final stage of moving the cigarettes into the tray T1 is accomplished with the help of a moving plate 84 (FIG- URE 4) which complements the movement of the plunger 78 which provides a final support for the row of cigarettes. A cam follower 86 carried on an arm 87 is retained by means of a spring'88 against the face of a crown cam 85. One end of the arm 87 is keyed to a rocking shaft 89 to which is also attached an arm 90 with a ball race 91 at its other end. The ball race 91 is located in a box bracket 92 which in its turn is attached to the moving plate 84 by means of a block 93. Thus as the crown cam 85 which is keyed to the shaft 57 rotates the moving plate reciprocates.

To maintain the movement of the plate 84 in a truly horizontal plane the following arrangement is adapted and is illustrated in FIGURES 7 and 8. Fixed to the plate 84 is a slide block 94 to which is bolted a slide 95, the operative end of which is V-shaped to slide over two runner wheels 96 and 97. Also attached to the slide block 94 is a crank shaped bracket 98 containing a hole through which is located a loose fitting bolt 99. Attached to the free'end of the bolt is a presser plate 101 between which and a shoulder of the crank shaped bracket 98 is a light spring 100. The operation of the moving plate 84 and the presser 101 will be described later.

Before the plunger 78 pushes a row of cigarettes into the tray T1 the cigarettes of .the row must be abutted so that they will fit into the width of the tray. This is elfeced by side plungers 114 (FIGURES 3 and 11) operated from two cams 102 located on shafts 56 (FIGURE 6) and 57. A cam follower 103 (FIGURE 11) is fixed to one end of an arm 184, the other end of which is keyed to a stub shaft 105 so that as the cam 102 rotates the stub shaft 105 oscillates. Also fixed to the stub shaft is an arm 106 having a ball race 107 pinned to its free end. The ball race is located in a box bracket 108 to which is attached .a slide 109, this slide being located between runner wheels 110, 111 and 112 so that it is moveable in a horizontal plane. Attached to the end of the slide 109 nearer the row of cigarettes is a block 113 to which is fixed one of the plungers 114. Thus the rotation of the cam 102 causes the plunger 114 to reciprocate in a horizontal direction at right angles to the longitudinal axes of the cigarettes.

To ensure that a tray T1 is kept in constant alignment with the row of cigarettes being pushed in, a pusher arm 193 is arranged to push the tray against a locating angle 195 (see FIGURE 3) being driven from a cam 187 keyed to the shaft 57. FIGURE 12 shows the details. 188 is a cam follower located on an arm 189 held by a retaining spring 190 in contact with the cam 187. The arm is pivoted at 191 to which is fixed a further arm 192 attached to the pivot arm 193. A runner wheel 194 is fixed to the pusher arm and is arranged to roll on the under-surface of a fixed bed of the machine. Thus for every rotation of the shaft 57 the pusher arm 193 locates the tray T1 positively against the angle 195.

In FIGURES 4 and 6 the position of the tray being filled is indicated at T1. The tray is supported on the lugs 115 attached to a bracket 116 which is part of the double chain conveyor 117. This conveyor is driven by means of sprockets 118 keyed to a shaft 119 to which is also attached a gear 120. The gear 120 is driven through an intermediate gear 121, which is keyed to a shaft 135, from a driving gear 122. An eccentric 136 located on the shaft 68 drives the gear 122 intermittently through a connecting rod 137 and an arm 138 and a free wheel device such as a pawl and ratchet, not shown. The stroke of the pawl arm 138 can be adjusted by means of a slot 139 and an adjusting screw 140 at the end of the connecting rod. The movement of the pawl must be such that the sprocket 118 moves the chain conveyor 117 down by an amount equal to the diameter of the cigarettes being fed into the tray T1 for every revolution of the shaft 68.

When the last row of cigarettes has been fed into the tray T1 the tray is fed downwardly by an amount which is sufiicient to bring a new tray into line with the plunger 78 so that the next row of cigarettes can be fed into the bottom of the new tray. The accelerated movement of the chain conveyor 117 which enables this spacing to be achieved is accomplished by means of an arrangement shown in FIGURES 9 and 10. Attached to the shaft 68 is a disc 141 to which is eccentrically pinned a connecting rod 142, the other end of which is pinned to a further disc 143 which in its turn is free to rotate on the shaft 135. At the back of the disc 143, (as viewed in FIGURE 10) is a pawl 144 (FIGURE 9) held by a retaining spring 145 against a ratchet 146 which is rigidly fixed to the shaft 135. The ratchet 146 has only one tooth 147 so that as the disc 143 oscillates under the action of the driving disc 141 and the connecting rod 142, the pawl 144 moves up and down on the face of the ratchet. The shaft 135 is intermittently driven clockwise as viewed in FIGURES 6, 9 and 10, by means of the driving gear 122 meshing with the intermediate gear 121 as already described. Thus the single tooth 147 of the ratchet is intermittently moving towards the pawl 144. When the ratchet has moved into a position where the pawl 144 engages the tooth 147 the ratchet and the shaft 135 are moved the full stroke of the pawl. Thus the chain conveyor 117 is accelerated and moved through a distance suflicient to bring the next empty tray into the correct position for having the bottom row of cigarettes fed into it. The ratio between the gears 122 and 121 and the magnitude of the stroke of the connecting rod 137 are such that one complete revolution of the shaft 135 comprises as many short intermittent movements as there are rows of cigarettes within the tray T1 together with one accelerated movement due to the pawl 144. If it is desired to feed cigarettes of a different diameter, then the magnitude of each intermittent movement can be changed by means of the adjusting screw 140 and the slot 139.

When a tray reaches the position shown as T2 in FIGURES 2 and 6 and the lugs 115 move below the level of the top run of the cross chain conveyor 131, the tray starts to move to the left as viewed in FIGURE 2. When the tray reaches the position shown as T3 (see FIGURE 10) a pair of lugs 132, carried on a rising chain conveyor 133 and arranged in an exactly similar way to the chain conveyor 117 and lugs 115, lift the tray T3 off the cross chain conveyor 131. The chain conveyor 133 is driven from a sprocket 148 keyed to a shaft 149 to which is attached a gear 150 which is driven via an intermediate gear 151 from a driving gear .152 keyed to the shaft 135. The shaft 135 is driven as previously explained and by means of the extra gear 151 the shaft 149 is driven in the opposite direction to the shaft 119 driving the conveyor 117. Thus the conveyor 133 lifts the trays with an intermittent movement which is equal and opposite to the intermittent movement by which the trays carried on the conveyor 117 descend.

In FIGURE 10 a main driving motor 153 is fitted with a driving gear 154 which drives the gear 155 and the input half of a clutch which is not shown in the drawings. The output half of the clutch is attached to a gear 156, the gears 155 and 156, and also the clutch, being located on the shaft 68. The gear 156 drives a shaft 161 via intermediate gears 157 and 158 located on the shaft 160 and intermediate gear 159 keyed to the shaft 161.

The mechanism for feeding trays into the apparatus is shown in FIGURE 6. The trays T are placed by hand on to a platform in the open bottom of which is a chain conveyor 162 which is driven by a sprocket 163 containing a free Wheel device so that the chain conveyor 162 moves the trays in the directionshown by the arrow. When the lugs 115a are in a position for an empty tray T to be loaded on to them, forks 165 are operated to lift the tray T5 from the conveyor 162 and to lower it on to the lugs 115a. Located on the shaft 161 is a earn 166 which operates a cam follower 167 fixed to the end of an arm 168 pivoted at 169. A further arm 170 is fixed to the arm 168 and also pivots 'at 169. The other end of the arm 170 carries a fork arm 171 pivoted at 172 with its other arm attached to the forks 165. Fixed to the fork arm 171 is a runner wheel 173 which can roll along a guide 174. Thus the rotation of the cam 166 enables forks 165 to operate in a horizontal plane. Also attached to the shaft 161 is a cam- 175 which operates a cam follower 176 located at one end of an arm 177, the other end of which pivots at 178. Attached to arm 177 is a further arm 179 at the other end of which is fixed a-ball race 180. The ball race 180 engages with the bottom surface of a pillar 181 which is attached to the guide 174 and which can move in a vertical direction being guided therein by runner wheels 182. Thus the action of the cam 175 is to move the guide 174 in a vertical direction and thus the forks 165. Attached to the pivot 172 is one end of a chain 164 which passes over the sprocket 163 and has attached to its other end a spring 183. The free end of the spring 183 is attached to the pivot 169. As the forks 165 move to' the right, as seen in FIGURE 6, and chain 164 also moves to the right but does not move the conveyor 162 due to the free wheel action contained within the sprocket 163. On the return stroke, however, of the forks 165 the chain 164 moves to the left and drives the top run conveyor 162 a corresponding amount in the same direction.

The mechanism for discharging loaded trays is shown in FIGURE 10. The trays are lifted by means of the conveyor 133 and are held against movement to the right by means of a plate guide 184. When a tray is in the position shown as T6, further forks and earns similar in construction and operation to those described in the mechanism for loading trays into the apparatus, operate to lift the tray T6 over the top of the guide 1 84 and to place the tray on a chain conveyor 185 driven by a sprocket 186. In this case, however, the free wheel mechanism within the sprocket 186 operates in the opposite direction to that within the sprocket 163 so that the full trays are discharged along the conveyor 185 in the direction shown by the arrow.

In the case of loading and discharging, the mechanism is only required to work when empty trays are required or full trays must be discharged. Consequently micro switches are fitted but are not illustrated in any of the figures. These switches are arranged to act on the clutch which was described as being located between the gears 155 and 156, the normal clutch position being open.

The apparatus having been detailed, its operation will now be described.

Cigarettes are fed sideways on conveyors 1 and 2 from a cigarette machine and start to fill the hoppers 4 and 5. There is provided a push button 196 which on be ing depressed operates a catch (not shown). This catch prevents the forward movement of the pusher pins 45 and thereby enables the hoppers-to fill up before rows of cigarettes are delivered to the tray T1. The angle guides 47 and 48 were described as being operated by means of the connecting rod 58 which in actual construction comprises a rod 197 attached to the end of the arm 61 sliding inside a tube 198 attached to the angle guide '47 at 59 with a retaining spring 199 connecting 59 and the end of the arm 61. Once the catch, operated by 196, prevents movement of the angle guide the rod 197 Will slide inside the tube 198 against the action of the spring 199 which is extended for every stroke of the arm 61. Thus the hoppers can be filled with the vanes 35 and 36 operating and thus preventing any gaps occurring, but without the pusher pins 45 removing any cigarettes.

01 Once the hoppers are full the push button 1961s released and the spring 199 holds together the end of the arm 61 and the pivot 59 on the angle guides 47 and 48 so that the pusher pins 45, which project above the level of the grill bars 39 sufficiently to move only one row of cigarettes, can start to push the cigarettes out the hoppers.

In starting up it is necessary to inch the apparatus by means of the push button 196 so that one revolution only of the main shaft 68 takes place before stopping the feed of the pusher bars 42, 43 and 44, as described above. It will then be necessary to remove by hand a row of cigarettes which have been taken away from the righthand hopper 5 by the pusher bar 43 and which have moved into a position between the pusher bar 44 and the plunger 78. This is necessary since the left-hand and right-hand hoppers are staggered and if this row of cigarettes were not removed, then only half a complete row (i.e. the right-hand half) would be fed into the bottom of the tray T1. By removing this half row, the cigarettes from the left-hand hopper 4 are brought into line with those at the bottom of the hopper 5 so that on the next full stroke a complete row is fed forward by the pins on the pusher bar 43. After the initial removal of this half row of cigarettes, the push button 196 is released and the mechanism'is allowed to operate in its normal manner. Thus the complete row of cigarettes lying to the front of the pins on pusher bar 43 are moved on the next full stroke to a position in front of the pusher bar 44 but to the rear of the plunger 78. On the next stroke (i.e. one complete revolution of the main shaft 68) this initial row of cigarettes is transferred by the pins on the pusher bar 44 to the rear of the plunger 78. On the final stroke affecting the initial row of cigarettes, the side pushers 114 abut all the members of the row into a' distance slightly less than the length of the tray, immediately before the plunger 78 transfers them into the bottom of the tray.

Below the moving plate, 84 onto which the cigarettes are pushed and which completes the transfer of the cigarettes into the tray, is a presser member 101. The arrangement is such that the final transfer of a row of cigarettes is effected at a level slightly higher than the previous row of cigarettes already located in the tray or if it is the bottom row, slightly above the level of the bottom of the tray. The presser member moves with the moving plate 84 and abuts against the previous row or rows or against the bottom of the tray and stays abutted due to the bolt 99 and the spring which allow the whole of the presser member 101 to stay in the same position with the moving plate continuing to move in a forward direction. The presser member holds previous rows of cigarettes firmly located against the back of the tray and also ensures that thereis no tendency for such previous rows to move towards the front of the tray, since such previous rows are held in position by the action of the spring 100 until the moving plate 84 is actually clear of the row it has just pushed into the tray. As stated, the level at which a row of cigarettes is pushed into the tray is slightly higher (by at least the thickness of the moving plate) than the top of the previous row. This means that when the moving plate 84 is removed from contact with the row of cigarettes being transferred the cigarettes drop slightly on to the previous row which is still held under action of the presser member 101. Such an arrangement ensures that there is no tendency for the cork on say a mouthpiece cigarette to catch the cigarettes in the row before, thus causing interference. 7

It will be seen that it is essential the tray T1 be lined up exactly with the row of cigarettes being plunged into it. This lining up is most easily done by means of the pusher arm 193 abutting the tray T1 against the locating angle 195, and, to ensure that the lining up is maintained throughout the filling up of the tray, this abutting movement is repeated for each row of cigarettes pushed into the tray.

Empty trays are loaded by hand on to the platform shown in FIGURE 6 and are moved to the left, as viewed in the same figure, until each empty tray comes to rest in the position shown as T5. Once the platform is filled with trays, a micro switch operates the clutch on the shaft 68 to prevent any further feeding forward by means of the con veyor 162. Only when the tray in the position indicated at T is lifted by means of the forks 165 and is located on to the lugs 115a can other trays on the platform be moved in the direction of the arrow. An empty tray on the lugs 115a is fed in a downward direction until the previous tray is filled, when the accelerated movement, as described earlier, moves the full tray in a rapid downward movement clear of the cigarette pushing mechanism and allows the empty tray to occupy a position where the next row of cigarettes can be transferred into its bottom.

Each full tray moves in a downward direction by means of the conveyor 117 until its bottom comes to rest on the cross conveyor 131, when the lugs supporting such a tray move out of contact with it, thereby allowing the cross conveyor to move the tray to the left, as seen in FIGURE 2. The movement to the left continues until the tray comes to rest against a stop, which is not shown, and stays in this positon until the lugs 132 on the conveyor 133 lift it off the cross conveyor up towards the discharge platform shown in FIGURE 10. Each full tray continues to rise until it occupies the position shown as T6 when the discharge forks lift it over the top of the guide 184 on to the discharge platform where the trays are moved in the direction of the arrow by the conveyor 185. Full trays must be removed from this conveyor by hand.

What we claim as our invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. Cigarette-collecting apparatus, in which batches of cigarettes are successively pushed from a delivery station into an open-sided receptacle, the said apparatus comprising a support for empty receptacles, a support for filled receptacles, a first conveyor means to receive empty receptacles in succession from their support and to lower them in succession past said delivery station to be filled with cigarettes, a second conveyor means to receive filled receptacles in succession and to raise said filled receptacles and deliver them in succession on to the support for filled receptacles, and transfer means to transfer filled receptacles in succession from the first to the second conveyor means.

2. Automatic collecting apparatus for collecting cigarettes into receptacles as the cigarettes issue from a cigarette-making machine, the apparatus including means to support a receptacle, a hopper having upright vanes spaced apart to accommodate between them single cigarette columns, a support for cigarettes at the base of the hopper,

Cit

li) the said support having slots each coinciding with a space between two vanes, pusher means comprising at least two carriers spaced from each other and extending across the width of the hopper beneath said support, transversely to said slots and said vanes, pusher elements mounted on said carriers and extending upwardly and forming a row on each carrier, each said pusher element being located in register with a slot, means to reciprocate the said carriers substantially horizontally and means to move the said carriers upward so that the pusher elements project through the slots during horizontal movement of the carriers in one direction so as to be able to engage end faces of cigarettes, and downward so that the pusher elements do not project through the slots during movement in the reverse direction, movement in the said one direction constituting a pushing stroke whereby at least the lowermost cigarette of each said cigarette column is pushed forward endwise by a pusher element, toward a receptacle, the said rows of pusher elements being spaced apart from each other by a distance greater than the length of a cigarette, and the means to reciprocate the said carriers being so arranged that on each pushing stroke a row of cigarettes is pushed along the support by one row of pusher elements to a position at which it is engaged and pushed by a different row of pusher elements on the next pushing stroke.

3. Apparatus as claimed in claim 2 including runners on which the said carriers are mounted, horizontal guides for the said carriers, and cam means to move the said guides substantially vertically up and down.

4. Apparatus as claim in claim 2, wherein two said hoppers are provided and are offset from each other sideways, one of the hoppers being positioned rearwardly of the other hopper considered in the direction in which the cigarettes are pushed by said pusher means, and wherein the said carriers extend across the width of both the hoppers, the rearmost carrier being positioned to enable its pusher elements to engage cigarettes in the rearmost hopper and to push them forwardly to a position at which, on the next pushing stroke, they will be engaged by pusher elements on another carrier at the same time that other pusher elements on the said other carrier are engaging cigarettes contained in the foremost hopper.

FRANK E. BAILEY, Primary Examiner. BROMLEY SEELEY, Examiner. 

1. CIGATETTE-COLLECTING APPARATUS, IN WHICH BATCHES OF CIGARETTES ARE SUCCESSIVELY PUSHED FROM A DELIVERY STATION INTO AN OPEN-SIDED RECEPTACLE, THE SAID APPARATUS COMPRISING A SUPPORT FOR EMPTY RECEPTACLES, A SUPPORT FOR FILLED RECEPTACLES, A FIRST CONVEYOR MEANS TO RECEIVE EMPTY RECEPTACLES IN SUCCESSON FROM THEIR SUPPORT AND TO LOWER THEM IN SUCCESSION PAST SAID DELIVERY STATION TO BE FILLED WITH CIGARETTES, A SECOND CONVEYOR MEANS TO RECEIVE FILLED RECEPTACLES IN SUCCESSION AND TO RAISE SAID FILLED RECEPTACLES AND DELIVER THEM IN SUCCESSION ON TO THE SUPPORT FOR FILLED RECEPTACLES, AND TRANSFER MEANS TO TRANSFER FILLED RECEPTACLES IN SUCCESSION FROM THE FIRST TO THE SECOND CONVEYOR MEANS. 